sent to nielsen today
978-0-9557455-1-5 Fluffy Little Kitten in Fluffy Little Kitten Falls Over
978-0-9557455-2-2 Fluffy Little Kitten in Fluffy Little Kitten's Birthday
Wednesday 26 December 2007
Sunday 23 December 2007
search inside seems to be up on amazon on too mant kitten
..it's not working yet but hey, ho. Sales rank still in the top 100,000!
Friday 14 December 2007
Saturday 8 December 2007
box size
a box that holds 5000 easily fits in a 3x5 foot room - You can fit 70 books into a 31cm by 24 cm box (16cms deep) thus you can fit a layer of 12 books at the bottom of a 3 x5 room. if the room has a 10 foot ceiling you can get in 7 layers or 84 boxes. the cost of renting such a space is £70 or so per month...
wholesaler - bertrams
http://www.bertrams.com/BertWeb/index.jsp?s=1&ss=307
they take 60% too so it's the same model as amazon
it means the absolute key is to have the confidence to print more
if I'm sending to the wholesaler in bulk I make 15p profit. However I I up the print run to 5000 rather than 1000 the postage drops by 0.97 - making the profit £1.12
storage will be an issue - but if we go for the "earn a quid option" I have 12p a copy for storage or £600 for storage for each 5000 books
they take 60% too so it's the same model as amazon
it means the absolute key is to have the confidence to print more
if I'm sending to the wholesaler in bulk I make 15p profit. However I I up the print run to 5000 rather than 1000 the postage drops by 0.97 - making the profit £1.12
storage will be an issue - but if we go for the "earn a quid option" I have 12p a copy for storage or £600 for storage for each 5000 books
Profits from various selling (excluding company costs and marketing)
Right at 4.99 and with normal postage charges
1) Amazon - if I am sending my books one at a time to amazon to fulfil orders - I lose 52p per book. This can be mitigated by the amazon associates revenue (about 25p but only if refered from my site) and reduced print costs (this effectively means I have to print in batches of 5000 to break even)
2) Amazon - if I am sending in larger batches the postage drops to about 33p to send to the warehouse - I make 15p - this means that any print reduction plus associates revenue will get me closer to the magic pound per copy. If we print at the 5000 level we can definitely make a pound.
3) Direct - makes profit of 3.40 to 3.10 so we can actually put a total (rrp +P&P) of between 4.50 and 3.50 (for individual books or full set of 3) and still make a pound at current rates
4) Ebay - we make about 60p less than direct so the above applies but with 60p difference
the business can be sustained in the "1000 copies" period because we know that higher print runs will provide profits.
If we work to one pound profit minimum on each book then we should work on 50p company charges and marketing per book - which seems likely.
Accounts would suggest that initially we'll be spending £4000 on company and marketing charges to sell 3000 books. However, those costs will come down substantially with volumes.
1) Amazon - if I am sending my books one at a time to amazon to fulfil orders - I lose 52p per book. This can be mitigated by the amazon associates revenue (about 25p but only if refered from my site) and reduced print costs (this effectively means I have to print in batches of 5000 to break even)
2) Amazon - if I am sending in larger batches the postage drops to about 33p to send to the warehouse - I make 15p - this means that any print reduction plus associates revenue will get me closer to the magic pound per copy. If we print at the 5000 level we can definitely make a pound.
3) Direct - makes profit of 3.40 to 3.10 so we can actually put a total (rrp +P&P) of between 4.50 and 3.50 (for individual books or full set of 3) and still make a pound at current rates
4) Ebay - we make about 60p less than direct so the above applies but with 60p difference
the business can be sustained in the "1000 copies" period because we know that higher print runs will provide profits.
If we work to one pound profit minimum on each book then we should work on 50p company charges and marketing per book - which seems likely.
Accounts would suggest that initially we'll be spending £4000 on company and marketing charges to sell 3000 books. However, those costs will come down substantially with volumes.
Company Structure
the two sites I've used are
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/
and
http://www.oyezstraker.co.uk/main-03-00.htm
It takes a lot of looking, but I've decided on the following
I'm going to be a private company limited by share. There will be 200 shares of which I will only issue 120. The 120 will have a value of £1 but I will be selling 59 of them at £75 each. This initially means I have a majority stake and the company is worth £120 for paying back to shareholders if it goes under. However the 59 shares I sell at a premium will raise £4425 - enough for two more 100 print runs for book 2 and 3 and some marketing, PR and slush money.
Each share that an investor purchases initially gets them 0.833% stake of the company.
However, there are still 80 shares left unissued. If i choose I can keep a majority share by taking another 40 shares myself and selling the other 40 at ANY premium I want. If I do this, I will be diluting each share to 0.5% of the company but raising extra capital.
If we need more money I will offer it first to the existing shareholders, then to the market.
For practical purposes (I will have quite a number of shareholders) I might set up the company with only me as a shareholder (that way it only needs me and one other's signature) and then transfer the shares at a later date - which I think incurs 0.5% stamp duty.
The forms you need are form 10, form 12, a memorandum and articles of association and share certificates and share transfer forms.
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/
and
http://www.oyezstraker.co.uk/main-03-00.htm
It takes a lot of looking, but I've decided on the following
I'm going to be a private company limited by share. There will be 200 shares of which I will only issue 120. The 120 will have a value of £1 but I will be selling 59 of them at £75 each. This initially means I have a majority stake and the company is worth £120 for paying back to shareholders if it goes under. However the 59 shares I sell at a premium will raise £4425 - enough for two more 100 print runs for book 2 and 3 and some marketing, PR and slush money.
Each share that an investor purchases initially gets them 0.833% stake of the company.
However, there are still 80 shares left unissued. If i choose I can keep a majority share by taking another 40 shares myself and selling the other 40 at ANY premium I want. If I do this, I will be diluting each share to 0.5% of the company but raising extra capital.
If we need more money I will offer it first to the existing shareholders, then to the market.
For practical purposes (I will have quite a number of shareholders) I might set up the company with only me as a shareholder (that way it only needs me and one other's signature) and then transfer the shares at a later date - which I think incurs 0.5% stamp duty.
The forms you need are form 10, form 12, a memorandum and articles of association and share certificates and share transfer forms.
Amazon Marketplace
I set this up as insurance in case of stock issues - at least this was there's definitely a way to buy it before christmas.
you register and then set your price. they charge you a flat fee of 86p - only when you sell and then a percentage of 17.25% of the price. They charge the customer £2.75 postage, of which you get £2.26. you have to post the item yourself. With such a large charge I'd post 1st class recorded - a charge of £1.40 postage.
This means at cover price 4.99 on marketplace
Print £1.52
Postage £1.40
Packing £0.22
Amazon Fees £1.72
Total Costs £4.86
Money in £7.25
Profit £2.39 - astonishing versus the 16p you get for being on amazon proper.
The "make a pound" figure on Marketplace is £3.31 or £6.06 delivered.
you register and then set your price. they charge you a flat fee of 86p - only when you sell and then a percentage of 17.25% of the price. They charge the customer £2.75 postage, of which you get £2.26. you have to post the item yourself. With such a large charge I'd post 1st class recorded - a charge of £1.40 postage.
This means at cover price 4.99 on marketplace
Print £1.52
Postage £1.40
Packing £0.22
Amazon Fees £1.72
Total Costs £4.86
Money in £7.25
Profit £2.39 - astonishing versus the 16p you get for being on amazon proper.
The "make a pound" figure on Marketplace is £3.31 or £6.06 delivered.
Investment
I have three investors of £750 all signed up. I have two £375 investors who will sign up on monday so that leaves me with a little way to go...
I want to raise the money with multiples of £75 shares - and I need to dispose of 59 of 120 shares (see company structure in another post)
that leaves me with £1425 or 19 shares to go. From the statements of a few others, there shouldn't be too much of a problem with this. Realistically i need to be able to start spending the money at the beginning of January.
I want to raise the money with multiples of £75 shares - and I need to dispose of 59 of 120 shares (see company structure in another post)
that leaves me with £1425 or 19 shares to go. From the statements of a few others, there shouldn't be too much of a problem with this. Realistically i need to be able to start spending the money at the beginning of January.
Amazon - getting stock into the warehouse
1) allow 20 days from when you send to get into the warehouse
2) People will not buy if you're not listed as "in Stock"
3) Amazon will not take you "in Stock" unless they have an order
4) unless you tell them about your promotions
so the rule is in future - no promotion until stock has been secured
Also - you have to think about costs. About the cheapest you'll get your books to amazon is if they order a box. i got an order for 30 and the box cost £9.35 to post. thats 32p per book, assuming you have a box you can use.
As the books cost 1.52 to produce and with amazon's cut of 60% of the cover price of £4.99 - you're only making 16p a book.
This seems to mean that you'll only make any kind of money from amazon if you can get your print cost down to more like 50p. That means print runs of 10k.
I'll do a little entry on how much I can make from all methods of selling - plus I'm going to have to look into wholesalers and neilsen book data more seriously for the next phase of development
2) People will not buy if you're not listed as "in Stock"
3) Amazon will not take you "in Stock" unless they have an order
4) unless you tell them about your promotions
so the rule is in future - no promotion until stock has been secured
Also - you have to think about costs. About the cheapest you'll get your books to amazon is if they order a box. i got an order for 30 and the box cost £9.35 to post. thats 32p per book, assuming you have a box you can use.
As the books cost 1.52 to produce and with amazon's cut of 60% of the cover price of £4.99 - you're only making 16p a book.
This seems to mean that you'll only make any kind of money from amazon if you can get your print cost down to more like 50p. That means print runs of 10k.
I'll do a little entry on how much I can make from all methods of selling - plus I'm going to have to look into wholesalers and neilsen book data more seriously for the next phase of development
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